


The Stripper Cookie

by peppermintcake



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:42:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28149297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermintcake/pseuds/peppermintcake
Summary: The roomies, Rafael and the Lahelas come together to bake Christmas cookies.Takes place during the events of book 2 (a few weeks after chapter 11).
Relationships: Bryce Lahela/Main Character (Open Heart)
Kudos: 4





	The Stripper Cookie

“Hey. Sorry, I’m late.“

Aurora closes the apartment door behind her, her face almost unreadable, but Casey thinks she sees a look of shock flickering over her expression for a second as she takes in the scene in front of her. Casey gives her a small smile.

“Don’t worry about it. How was your day?”

“Stressful. I have to take a quick shower before joining you.”

“Take you time. No need for two people to suffer.” Casey throws Jackie, who is standing beside her, a look. “What? The only reason why I’m here and the only way to endure this is the alcohol. And it’s not ready yet.”

Aurora gives Jackie a grateful smile and disappears into the hallway while Casey turns back to the stove and stirs the pot with the mulled cider again before turning around, surveying the room.

On the kitchen island, Sienna is currently rolling out dough for sugar cookies as Keiki gingerly uses cookie cutters in the form of Christmas trees. Flour is strewn all over the counters and Sienna is humming and gently swaying to the Christmas music playing in the background, occasionally glancing over to Keiki to keep an eye on her work.

On the dinner table, Elijah and Bryce sit next to each other, deep in conversation, sometimes looking up at the laptop placed in front of them to talk with Rafael over video chat, while they decorate the first batch of cookies. The table is decked out with different colored icings, piping bags, dishes for decorating and boxes to store the cookies in.

Additionally, Sienna has brought out a little fake tree earlier that she decorated and a string of golden lights flickers on the window above the tree. The lights accentuate the two windows that are freshly covered in paper snowflakes that Sienna and Casey cut out a few weeks ago in an attempt to occupy their thoughts with something else than the assassination attempt.

Jackie’s movement next to her tears Casey out of her thoughts and, with one eyebrow raised, she observes her trying the drink again. Casey would almost say that they already lost half the pot of mulled cider to Jackie ‘ _testing if it’s ready_ ’.

“Not enough alcohol.”

Casey rolls her eyes. “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t just straight up heat up a bottle of tequila.”

She hasn’t even ended the sentence before she sees Jackie’s eyes sparkling and she briskly walks over to a cabinet, coming back to generously pour the clear alcohol into the pot.

“Oh boy.”

Casey closes her eyes, immediately regretting her proposition, which _wasn’t even a proposition_ , but opens them quickly when she hears Sienna’s irritated voice and Bryce and Elijah chuckling.

“ _Seriously_ , guys?! Those were supposed to be for the doctors’ lounge…”

Exchanging glances with Jackie and Keiki, Casey makes her way over to the table while she sees Bryce holding a cookie up toward the laptop camera, prompting a low chuckle coming from Rafael.

Placing her hands on Bryce’s shoulders, she looks at the cookie Elijah currently holds up. The many short and randomly placed chocolate stripes as well as the thicker stripe across his body, decorated with mini marshmallows, tells her immediately that Elijah used this opportunity to make his own Wookiee cookie.

The small smile on Casey’s face only widens when she looks at the one laying in front of Bryce. The cookie, in the shape of a gingerbread man, now sports, curtesy of Bryce, a happy expression and what appears to be money stuffed into and peeking out of a little red string.

“Finally a good idea coming from you, meathead.”

Jackie laughs loudly, already thinking about new possibilities to decorate the cookies, her aversion against the get-together momentarily forgotten, while Sienna doesn’t seem as happy, asking him how he could create something like this, especially so that his teen sister can see.

“Relax, Sienna. I’ve seen worse things.”

“What?!” Sienna angrily turns to Bryce again, who himself looks at Keiki in shock.

“What?! What do you mean, Keiki?!”

A laugh threatens to escape her lips but in the last possible moment a thought hits Casey and her face immediately falls.

She almost would have missed out on _all this_. On listening to her friends having fun, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. On feeling warm and fuzzy about their company. She nearly missed out.

She could have easily been _dead_ and she wonders for a moment how her friends would have celebrated the pre-Christmas period if she had. Would it have been exactly like it is today, just… with her not being there?

Casey feels tears pricking her eyes, looking at the screen for a short moment and seeing a somewhat similar expression flitting over Rafael’s face before she quickly walks over to the hallway, hoping to escape to her room without anybody noticing.

However, right as she sinks to the ground, her back on the wall next to her closet, the door opens and reveals Bryce who slinks into the room and makes his way over to her. He sits down next to her, slinging his arm around her shoulders and pulls her into his broad chest, his scent enveloping her.

She closes her eyes, prompting a tear to run down her cheek. Eyes staying shut, Casey forces herself to concentrate on Bryce’s heartbeat, a tactic she has adopted in the last few weeks and that has helped her every time so far to calm her down.

Bryce gives her a moment and when he speaks up his voice is soft.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Casey sniffles before clearing her throat, her own voice barely above a whisper.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin the day for all of you… I just… I could have been _dead_ , Bryce. I _should_ have been dead. Not Danny and Bobby. And now… I’m enjoying these Christmas activities with you guys, while they…”

Another sniffle follows and she feels Bryce’s arm tightening around her.

“And what about their families and friends? They sit there with an empty seat that _should_ be filled. All their Christmas traditions, everything… I remember that Danny loves… _loved_ the winter time and Christmas. You know, he promised to teach Sienna some figure skating tricks… And Bobby… God, his children are probably missing him like crazy.”

Casey pulls away from Bryce, shaking her head. “And here I am. Still alive. Enjoying myself. If only I had done something different that day… I could have…”

Bryce’s hand finds its way to her chin and he gently turns it so that she faces him again. His eyes shine warmly and for the umpteenth time she wonders how she deserves somebody like him, somebody who is still so patient with her after having witnessed way too many of her breakdowns in the last few weeks.

“Casey, it wasn’t your fault, okay? And Bobby and Danny, they would want you to enjoy your life.”

“Logically, I know that, I just can’t… shake it. I think, it’s getting better, but sometimes it just…,” Casey sniffles again, throwing herself into Bryce’s arms again. “… hits me… I’m sorry.”

Wiping the fallen tears away, she focusses on Bryce’s soothing touch as he runs his hands along her arm and on his breath on her hair before he leans in to press a kiss on her head.

“Hey, do you think Bobby and Danny would have liked my cookie design?”

Casey lets out a watery, amused snort, a smile creeping its way on her lips.

“Bobby, definitely. Though maybe you should have also added a bra or nipple tassels or at least breasts, you know… Danny… I don’t know… But he definitely would have appreciated your creativity.”

She feels Bryce smiling into her hairline.

“I didn’t know you could decorate that well with icing.”

“You out of everyone should know that there are a lot of things me and my hands are good at, Case. After all, my hands are…”

“…magic. Yes, yes. I know…”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Characters belong to Pixelberry Studios.


End file.
